MSc Honours Programme Quantitative Finance
For students with an appropriate quantitatively oriented university bachelor degree, we offer a programme in Quantitative Finance. This is an MSc Honours Programme within the MSc Finance programme. Upon successful completion, students obtain an MSc in Finance, Quantitative Honours Programme.
The honours programme is a cooperation between three of the University's renowned international research groups from two faculties (Economic Sciences and Mathematical Sciences). The programme trains you in three different disciplines, namely Finance, Econometrics, and Mathematics. The three disciplines are offered in an integrated programme, focusing on problems and questions in financial-economics, and treating technical methodology and techniques as indispensable instruments in addressing these problems. The staff members involved have strong connections with the financial sector, and many of them hold part-time positions outside the university at major financial institutions and corporations (e.g., AGP Asset Management, ABN AMRO, De Nederlandsche Bank, ING, KPMG, ORTEC). This benefits students in achieving the programme's dual objective: (i) gaining knowledge of recent scientific advances, and (ii) learning how to apply this knowledge in practice.
Many research questions in financial economics are characterised by a high degree of complexity that can only be successfully answered using quantitative methods. Typical examples include advanced risk management decisions (modelling risks; optimal use of derivative products like options), dynamic asset management decisions (investment policy decisions that optimally react to economic developments), and product development (pricing insurance products and financial derivatives of non-standard risks, e.g. hurricane, earthquake and flooding risk). The programme in Quantitative Finance will equip the student with the proper skills and attitude to be successful in this area.
The programme offers students a range of options with respect to future employment possibilities and follow-up studies. The MSc degree in Quantitative Finance should enable them to find positions as for example banker, financial analyst, financial consultant, risk manager, or financial government specialist at both national and international corporates, financial institutions, and governmental organizations. Such positions will generally be characterized by a strong emphasis on quantitative analysis and the use of mathematical modelling tools. The degree also opens up the possibility to enter more specialized graduate (post-Master) financial teaching programmes, such as for example the Treasury Management programme or the Financial Analyst and Asset Management program, both hosted by this University. The programme requires the student to have strong analytical and communicative skills, a proper background in basic mathematics, econometrics/statistics, and finance, a proactive attitude, and an intrinsic interest in learning and applying new quantitative techniques to financial problems.
